Global Warming up front and personal

Air temperature is three degrees, ground temp is zero. My Dad's attendant is from Minnesota and her Mom said it was minus ten there. Canada is getting hammered and the East Coast is still digging out. Siberia is getting hit as well with -51F at Polyarni. It's even snowing in Greece! Got a nice fire going so the house is warm -- our fireplace chimney has a huge thermal mass so once it's up to temp, we can let the fire go out over night and still be perfectly warm the next day. Only problem is that our water heater is in the garage. There is a man door to a fenced area outside that we keep open so the critters can go without wandering off. The door from the house to the garage has a pet door so we don't loose any heat there. Went to wash my hands before dinner and no hot water! I have a heater on the frozen section so it should resolve itself quickly but still, it's an anoyance... We have the cold water tap running -- even though the pipe from our well to the house is buried, it is not buried deep enough and will freeze on days like this. The joys of pastoral living.